SEQ hits freezing point after Brisbane's coldest May day in 98 years

The mercury dropped to exactly 0 degrees in south-east Queensland on Sunday morning, the day after Brisbane's coldest May day in almost a century.

On Friday and Saturday, 54 daytime temperature records were equalled or broken across the state, according to a list shared by the Bureau of Meteorology on social media.

FILE IMAGE: The winter woolies are needed, despite winter being another week away - the start of June.Credit:Bradley Kanaris/Fairfax Media

The bureau said the low maximum temperature records would need to be confirmed by its climate services team in the coming days.

Meteorologist Kimba Wong said Brisbane reached a maximum of 15.1 degrees on Saturday, the coldest May day since the River City struggled to a top of 15 degrees on May 22, 1922.

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On Sunday, the South Burnett town of Kingaroy, about 150 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, reached freezing point and the Scenic Rim towns of Beaudesert, with a low of 0.6 degrees, and Canungra, with a morning minimum of 0.9 degrees, weren't far behind.

Brisbane itself had a minimum of 10.4 degrees on Sunday, while the Ipswich suburb of Amberley and Greenbank, in Logan, both dropped to 3.3 degrees.

In the Darling Downs and Granite Belt, Wellcamp Airport at Toowoomba hit 1.2 degrees overnight, while Dalby, Miles and Oakey all recorded lows between 2 and 2.5 degrees.

Ms Wong said a combination of factors had created the chilly weekend, but conditions were expected to warm up next week.

"Yesterday, we had a very thick cloud band over eastern Queensland, which stops the sunlight coming in and reaching surface to warm things up," she said.

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"We also had a bit of rainfall, which further cools conditions. There was also a very cold air mass coming up from the south and persistent southerly winds.

"It is still cold today [Sunday], but that cloud band has moved off the coast and there are clear skies for the most part. We still do have that very cool southerly air mass sitting over much of the state.

"While things are warming up a little bit more than they were yesterday, things are still expected to remain a little bit below the May average over most of the state for the next couple of days."

Ms Wong said there was the chance of morning frost in Queensland's southern and central interior during the next few days, in particular on Monday and Tuesday.

It was just one of several centres to break decades-old records as cool southerly winds and cloud cover kept maximum temperatures as much as 10 degrees below average were recorded throughout the state's interior tropics, Central Highlands and Coalfields regions.

Longreach and Charleville recorded their lowest May maximums in more than 50 years on Friday, with respective tops of 14.6 and 13.2 degrees.

Windorah and Blackall also saw May temperature records fall with daytime tops of just 14.5 and 13.5 degrees - the coldest May days since 1995 and 2012.